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Will Biden's vaccination mandates work? Macron's health pass gives clues

2021-09-15T08:59:05.214Z


Macron's move was a calculated risk in a country where a deep cultural belief in individual freedoms and a mistrust of government have led to vaccinations.


54% of Americans support vaccination mandates 0:52

Paris (CNN) -

After US President Joe Biden unveiled a plan to address America's worsening pandemic with a series of new vaccination rules last week, the big question is: will they work? mandatory vaccinations?

On the other side of the Atlantic, in France, it is a bet that is beginning to pay off.

Despite a slow start to its vaccination rollout earlier this year, fueled by supply chain issues that culminated in a tough public battle with AstraZeneca over delivery shortages and blood clot concerns, France finally put on their program runs in the spring.

In May, the country reached its goal of partially vaccinating 20 million people, 30% of its population.

But then he quickly started crashing into a wall.

In July, with France's vaccination rate stagnating and coronavirus cases on the rise, President Emmanuel Macron imposed sweeping vaccination requirements for much of everyday life.

As of Aug. 1, anyone without a "health pass" showing proof of their vaccination status or a recent negative test will not be able to enter bars and cafes, or travel long distances by train, Macron said.

Health personnel workers, a group of about 2.7 million people in France, who are not vaccinated on Wednesday, face being fired or suspended without pay.

  • Biden will ask world leaders to vaccinate 70% of the population against covid-19

Macron's move was a calculated risk in a country where a deep cultural belief in individual freedoms and a mistrust of government have led to vaccinations.

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Macron adjusts his mask during a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris on September 6.

Despite its history as the cradle of vaccine science (France is home to the pharmaceutical giants Sanofi and the Pasteur Institute, named for Louis Pasteur, one of the founders of modern vaccination), the French have shown themselves reluctant to adopt them for a long time.

A Wellcome Global Monitor poll published in 2019 found that 1 in 3 French people disagreed that vaccines were safe, more than any other country out of 144 respondents.

During the country's second coronavirus lockdown in December 2020, two separate surveys conducted by Paris-based Ipsos and the French Institute of Public Opinion found that around 60% of French respondents said if there was a vaccine for the covid -19 available, they wouldn't wear it.

"Clearly, Emmanuel Macron took a chance," said Bruno Cautres, a political analyst at Sciences Po's Center for Political Research in Paris.

"He risked saying: I will make life very difficult for the unvaccinated, which is a very, very, very dangerous statement for an executive."

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When the proposal reached French lawmakers, the protesters began weekly demonstrations against the health pass.

On July 31, more than 200,000 people took to the streets of France, a mix of those who opposed the health pass and its restrictions on freedoms, and people who were reluctant to get fully vaccinated.

However, despite all the noise, many more French were in support of the pass and spreading their arms.

On the same day, 532,000 people were vaccinated, according to the French Ministry of Health.

Despite some initial opposition, Macron's risk appears to be reaping significant rewards.

In the immediate aftermath of Macron's speech on July 12, there was an increase in vaccination appointments in France.

Doctolib, the leading platform for booking vaccination appointments in the country, saw 1 million appointments requested in 24 hours.

Thanks in part to its rising vaccination rate, coupled with a massive spike in covid-related testing and the reintroduction of mask-wearing mandates in regions hardest hit by the delta variant, mainland France managed to bypass in largely the fourth wave that swept through Europe and the United States.

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A month after France's new health pass regime, data from the country's health agency shows an overall decline in hospitalizations and ICUs from summer highs.

And while public health experts wait to see if the decline will continue, many are cautiously optimistic.

"In the few minutes after [Macron's] announcement, there was a record in the number of appointments to be vaccinated. And this continued also in the following days. And what we see now is that they continue to increase," Vittoria Colliza told CNN, a Paris-based epidemiologist working at Inserm, the French public health research center, in a telephone interview in August.

"I think in terms of incentives, this is really working. And the health pass itself also has a second effect ... limiting the risk of contact in our daily social life, so this should have an effect in terms of numbers of cases. "

Today, France's covid-19 vaccination rate is among the highest in the world, with 73% of people having received at least one dose, according to Our World in Data.

People dance at a nightclub in Saint-Jean-de-Monts, western France, on July 10, after nightlife reopened.

In the United States, vaccination rates have stagnated.

Only 62% of the US population has received at least one dose, according to Our World in Data, and the majority of those who are not vaccinated have no chance of receiving a vaccine, according to an Axios-Ipsos survey. .

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Now the United States seeks to replicate some of France's success.

Last Thursday, President Biden imposed strict new vaccination rules on most federal workers, health care personnel and companies with 100 or more employees. In announcing the measure, which could affect up to 100 million Americans, Biden expressed frustration with the unvaccinated. "We have been patient, but our patience is wearing thin and their refusal has cost us all," he said, acknowledging that the new steps would not provide a quick fix.

The mandates represent a significant change in direction for the Biden administration, which previously tried to avoid widespread vaccine requirements.

In the US, masking and vaccination mandates have been left primarily to local authorities.

But, as US vaccination efforts stalled in recent months, the administration began to turn toward more enforcement measures.

In late July, Biden announced that all federal employees and contractors should be vaccinated or tested regularly.

While some employers and unions have expressed support for the new rules, many Republican leaders have said they will challenge in court the requirements that large employers require vaccination.

  • Large US companies have many questions about Biden's vaccination mandate

Other critics of Biden's vaccination mandates argue that they will only "build resistance" among people who are already resistant to receiving a vaccine.

Heidi Larson, founder of the Vaccine Confidence Project, agrees that government coercion is not necessarily a silver bullet to convert the unvaccinated.

"At the end of the day, [it forces] you to increase acceptance, but for those people who doubt, things like that infuriate them even more. They dig in even more deeply," Larson said.

'We did a national research with a lot of people in the UK and we raised the whole question of the vaccine passport, and it was fine for people who were in favor of vaccines and accept them, but for people who were doubting, they still did. more hesitant and more likely to refuse if they felt they were told they had to, or that it was some moral responsibility. "

Some countries, including England, have said they will not go the vaccine passport route.

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For those who are hesitant to receive newly developed vaccines, broader action is needed to encourage their use, experts say.

The information "was not very clear" about vaccines, said Catherine Hill, an epidemiologist at the Gustave Roussy institute in Paris.

"There were a lot of fake news rumors about the trials," he said.

A protester holds signs reading "No to the health pass" and "Vaccine: stay away from our children" at a demonstration in the western Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine on August 7.

Before the new law, the French government tried to increase vaccination rates through incentives and public health appeals, an effort that has continued as the health pass is implemented.

In August, the Elysee Palace launched a social media offensive targeting young people in France.

President Macron took to TikTok and Instagram, posting unusually relaxed videos, some from his vacation home, calling on the French to get vaccinated.

"Get vaccinated if you love your family, friends, brothers, sisters and parents," Macron said on Instagram, "because by getting vaccinated, you are also protecting them."

The rethinking of communications coincided with a push to make vaccines more available.

Appointments by the sea were opened for those on vacation and walk-in sessions began, and epidemiologist Hill attributes France's U-turn from COVID-19 to both.

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"These [mandates] were really a paradigm shift," Colliza said.

"If you think about the doubt about vaccines and how the authorities tried to handle it, at first it was really a lot of pressure in the explanations, in the communication, and the objective was not really to force people but to convince them. And at a certain point, given the large circulation of the delta variant in several EU countries, the authorities are moving towards something that is a little more restrictive. "

The final phase of Macron's health approval law goes into effect this week, with the mandate on health workers taking effect.

As of August 30, public workers, as well as clients in establishments covered by the law, had to present a health pass to enter the facilities.

In France, about 1.8 million workers took advantage of this extension.

  • Covid-19: France will not allow unvaccinated Americans to enter the country

Anais Majdoubi, a 27-year-old employee at escape games in Paris, was initially hesitant to get vaccinated.

He used to get a COVID-19 test every three days to show his boss, a strategy that proved impractical when the French government passed the health pass law in August.

She was reluctantly given the vaccine, but fears for what it means for those who still resist vaccination.

"I think we should be careful around people who are not vaccinated, not treat them differently," Majdoubi said.

"We shouldn't point fingers at them."

CNN's Eliza Mackintosh wrote and reported from London, England, and Joseph Ataman, Saskya Vandoorne, and Melissa Bell from Paris, France.

Emmanuel MacronJoe Biden

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2021-09-15

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